Introduction to Poetry: Poetic Scansion; Form and Performance
Close Reading: Basic Technique
1. Get some basic information
a. For poetry that could mean coming to a consensus about what the poem is trying
to say in lay terms. Who is speaking and about what? What is its subject? What
are its major themes?
b. This step should be the briefest; you want to try to get “the” meaning in nugget
form here. But remember, that’s not the task of close reading in general; nor is it
the task of analysis. One of the tricky aspects of close analysis is that it’s easy to
think that once you “get” the poem, you’re done. But instead of trying to put the
text in a nutshell, we want to expand it. Think about it this way: just one of
Shakespeare’s comedies, The Tempest, has a minimum of 37,700 scholarly books
or articles written about it (and counting!), according to Google. And that’s just
what Google has in its databases.
c. So how do you get from one piece of text to thousands upon thousands of writings
and analyses?
2. Begin by asking questions about language and form
a. For poetry, try to identify the meter and rhyme scheme; note where an otherwise
regular meter (iambic pentameter, for example) goes awry
b. Make notes about the regularity or irregularity of the rhyme and meter
c. How many lines are in a stanza? Is each stanza the same length? Is each line the
same length (same number of metric feet)?
d. Is there a refrain?
e. What does the poem sound like? Are there repeated sounds? Repeated words?
f. Does the poem contain many or few active words/verbs?
g. Alternatively are the words mostly descriptive? If so, what do they describe?
h. Are there particular/alternative connotations to the words used in the poem?
i. What’s the speaker’s perspective?
3. Next, move from those observations to a consideration of how they create the identified
meaning?
a. What’s the relationship between these formal characteristics and what we
identified as the content (or meaning) of the poem?
b. How, for example, might they suggest a deeper meaning than we originally
thought?
c. Do they demonstrate an irony or contradiction we may have missed before?
4. Finally, you can begin to think about the larger implications of your analysis, and you can
pose an argument that answers the question, “So what?”
a. So, what does it mean for <fill in the blank: culture, gender, literature, tradition,
etc.> that the author uses this particular word/rhyme scheme/meter instead of
another one?
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b. So, what does it mean for <fill in the blank> that the author composes a sonnet
instead of free verse or vice versa?
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Close Reading Fiction
Formal analysis of prose fiction depends on (1) proposing possible meanings of the work as a
whole, (2) looking closely at the language to notice details governing the diction, figuration,
tone, narrative structure, etc., (3) addressing the impact of those details on your original
interpretation (how they complicate or nuance your reading), and (4) asking, “So what?”.
Though we’ll certainly be attending to the figurative and stylistic features of the language itself
and, in many cases, the prose we’re reading can be very poetic, we will also be need to pay
careful attention to broader structural elements of the narrative such as the plot and point of
view. Indeed, identifying the relationships between the individual linguistic elements—diction,
metaphor, metonymy—and the structural elements of the narrative can be one of the most
rewarding parts of formal analysis.
Steps for Close Reading
I.
As with close analysis of poetry, we’ll first determine what the story is about on a
fundamental level. This is the “nugget” or “nutshell” articulation of the meaning. For
literary texts, recognizing the differences between subject and theme will be
important here since, in many cases, the meanings are not as readily identifiable as
they are in thesis statements or argumentation in prose essays. The following
definitions of “Theme” and “Subject” from NTC’s Dictionary of Literary Terms will
help to clarify what we’re identifying when we talk about the “meaning” of a work.
i. Subject: The topic or thing described in a work of LITERATURE. The
subject differs from the THEME of the work in that theme is a comment,
observation, or insight about the subject. For example, birth, marriage, and
baptism are subjects often found in literature, yet these may be speaking to
the themes of cycles, purity, renewal, etc.
ii. Theme: In LITERATURE, the central or dominating idea, the “message,”
implicit in a work. The theme of a work is seldom stated directly. It is an
abstract concept indirectly expressed through recurrent IMAGES, actions,
CHARACTERS, and SYMBOLS, and must be inferred by the reader or
spectator. Theme differs from SUBJECT (the topic or thing described in a
work) in that theme is a comment, observation, or insight about the
subject. For example, the subject of a poem may be a flower; its theme, a
comment on the fleeting nature of existence.
II.
Begin posing questions and making observations about a particular passage. In
particular, pay close attention to how the story moves by attending to the following:
a. How does a passage express or convey the meaning(s) identified above? How, for
instance, would you identify the genre? What creative limitations does the genre
place on the story’s meaning or structure?
b. Make observations about figurative devices like metaphor, simile, word choices
(patterns of diction), syntax and sentence structure, definitions and connotations
of words (use the OED), and/or punctuation.
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c. Taken a step further, how does the language affect our understanding of the story?
How does the author use language to establish setting, voice(s), characterization,
and/or emotional content? How does the language suggest or imply some content
not readily identifiable in the denotative content of the words? For instance, are
words repeated; what does that repetition suggest or imply? How does it function?
How does the language create a humorous, sincere, sad, or contemplative tone?
d. What images, symbols, or ideas stand out in the passage? Do any contradict or
complement each other in interesting ways? How might they contribute to an
understanding of some broader themes?
e. What is the perspective or point of view through which the story is told? Does it
remain constant or does it shift throughout the narrative? How do you know when
the point of view shifts (i.e., what linguistic or context clues indicate as much?)
(For more on p.o.v., see Abrams, pp. 271-276 in your readings packet).
f. How does the plot unfold? What is the sequence of events (chronology) that
constitutes the narrative? Does the chronology differ from the plot (the way in
which the telling is ordered)? (for more on plot, see Abrams, pp. 265-268).
g. Who are the protagonists? Who/what are the antagonists or “villains”?
h. What constitutes the “conflict” or crisis in the action? Is it resolved? If so, how?
III.
Next, determine how any or all of these elements speak to your original assessment of
the story’s meaning? What evidence do they provide for how you have been thinking
of the story, the writing, and/or the characters?
IV.
Finally, what are the broader implications of these details/evidence for:
a. its literary, historical, and/or cultural relevance?
b. your own argument?
c. what others have argued about the work?
d. how the author imagines the work as “American”?
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Close Reading Non-Fiction
and Engaging with Literary Criticism
Goals of Close Reading:
In literary, rhetorical, and cultural study, the first point of analysis is the “text” or cultural object
itself. Now that you have an understanding of some of the structural components of expository
prose writing, you can embark on a deeper analysis of the conceptual pieces that make up nonfiction, essay, and/or literary critical writing. In turn, your ability to closely analyze such prose in
close reading will afford you a greater reflexivity and reflectivity in your own writing.
Steps for Close Reading and/or Rhetorical Analysis:
I.
First, generate a brief (one sentence or less) summary of the text’s main argument,
thesis, or central claim. What, in a nutshell, is the piece about? To identify the main
argument, you might think about how you would respond to the following questions:
a. Though the author makes several claims in this piece, which does s/he most want
the audience to grant?
b. Does the claim you have identified account for why the writer is making this
specific argument at this specific time and/or about this specific topic? In other
words, does the claim you identified account for the circumstances that prompted
the writing of this argument in the first place? How do you know? What textual
clues can you identify in support of those circumstances/responses?
II.
Once you’ve identified the main argument/thesis, move on to identify its supporting
reasons and/or its conceptual framework.
a. Most likely, the main argument will be supported by smaller claims or arguments
that rely on the development of related concepts, which may or may not be
abstract.
b. In turn, those concepts may emerge from more solid historical, empirical, and/or
textual evidence, or they may emerge from a set of shared assumptions between
the author and her/his audience. Teasing out those assumptions is a critical
component of analysis.
c. In order to emphasize this conceptual framework and, thereby, to more fully
understand what the author is saying, you may need to begin by moving
chronologically through the piece. As you develop your analysis, however, you’ll
want to begin articulating relationships between and among the basic concepts
rather than between paragraphs in order.
III.
After identifying the conceptual structure of the argument, you can begin evaluating
the utility of those concepts for the argument as a whole. That is, you may begin to
ask whether the reasons offered in support of the main argument are “good” reasons:
a. For the text or topic under consideration.
b. For the assumed audience, intended audience, or actual audience
c. Or for opponents of the claims who may need to be persuaded. For instance, does
the author offer any counterarguments that might anticipate potential objections?
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Does the author represent the opposite views fairly or does s/he construct “straw
man” arguments in order to more easily dispose of the oppositions’ arguments?
IV.
Although last in appearance, this “step” is one that we’ll constantly have to keep in
view: it is the issue of language.
a. As in all close reading, we need to attend carefully to the denotative and
connotative meanings of words. How, for instance, is an author using a particular
word and what are the ethical, political, historical, and/or emotional investments
of that word or set of words in context?
b. Do you notice any idiosyncrasies in the punctuation or syntax structure? Length
of paragraphs or sentences? What are the effects of the choices the author makes
in syntax or diction? How do these choices affect and effect the conceptual
structure of the argument and/or its persuasiveness?
c. Does the author use figurative or rhetorical language? What are the effects of such
tools as analogy, comparison/contrast, hyperbole, metaphor and metonymy,
rhetorical questions, etc.?
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Engaging with Literary Criticism
We begin with close reading/formal analysis in order to demonstrate the importance of
understanding a text prior to critiquing its relevance or understanding of its topic. That is, your
own discussion of an essay, article, or review will be stronger if you demonstrate a careful and
sensitive (or nuanced) understanding of the argument itself. However, a critical interpretation of
a text—in which you, perhaps, disagree with some aspect of its argument or argumentation—can
be daunting. But it needn’t be so.
In the following options, or, if you prefer, templates, for critically engaging secondary and/or
non-fiction texts, you should be able to summarize the author’s argument carefully, make every
attempt to understand it completely, state why you disagree and/or why and how your additional
ideas or arguments actually serve to clarify the published piece(s), and then offer plenty of
evidence (perhaps textual evidence from the fiction under consideration, alternative historical
explanations, or a cultural artifact that contradicts a philosophical or cultural studies reading) to
persuade your own reader of your argument.
OPTION 1: The concept of __________ is an integral part of the author’s argument. To support
her/his argument, however, s/he could have also included ______________________.
OPTION 2: The author of this essay uses the concept of ____________; however, this
interpretation does not fit the topic (or literary work) under discussion because
_______________.
OPTION 3: Select a key quotation from the text that refers to or underlines the significance of
the original text or topic under discussion. Referring to that quotation and its implications,
complete the following. This (summary of the idea in the quote) may be true; however, the
author overlooks ______________.
OPTION 4: Select a quotation as with option 3. Use the reference to the topic or the author’s
own close-reading of a narrative to complete the following. I read/interpret the events (or
interpretation) the author describes here differently. Namely, ____________________ (your own
interpretation).
OPTION 5: Select a significant quotation or interpretation that you want to qualify. Complete the
following based on your own qualification of the author’s interpretation. This (summary of the
quote or interpretation) is true, though the author could further clarify this point by mentioning
that ____________________.
OPTION 6: Select a quote as indicated in option 5 and complete the following. The idea that
______________ is not quite accurate. The author overlooks, for example, that _____________.
OPTION 7: I agree with the author’s overall claim that _______. However, the following claim
(point, idea, or interpretation) could have been more thoroughly supported if the author had
included a reading of ________________.
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OPTION 8: The author’s specific claim (point, idea, or interpretation) about ____________
is not thoroughly supported as indicated by ________________.
OPTION 9: The author’s specific claim (point, idea, or interpretation) about _____________ is
contradicted by _________________ (some evidence from the text or topic).
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